23. Noah
23
O n Sunday night, I dab cologne on my neck after shaving. An extra step I never do before dinner with my family. Since Pepper started joining us, the only difference is we don’t curse as much.
It’s not entirely true. Since Pepper started joining our dinners, there’s been almost a guarantee that we won’t have a fight about Elliot, or the Inn, or what a piece of work Levi’s ex-wife is. It’s been as respectful as the four of us are capable of being.
And it’s been good for us.
After everything Chase has been through after Elliot’s death, it’s good to see him happy and settled. With someone like Pepper.
Now if we could find someone Levi is willing to put up with. Someone he could trust with not just his kid but his heart, we’d be golden.
I imagine that if and when that ever happens, I’d likely stop coming around to family dinners and keep it to holidays only.
Otherwise, I’m looking at endless attempts at setups and talks about my love life.
I step out, finding Charlie in the kitchen, cleaning. She’s dressed in sweatpants and a sports bra. Her blond hair tied over her head.
“What are you doing?”
“Maybe you should go without me. I’m not all that hungry anyway. I do need a workout, so maybe I’ll use your gym while you’re out.”
I grip her waist and lift her onto the counter. “First off, you’re not working out without my supervision.”
“What, are you afraid I’d drop a dumbbell on my foot?”
“Yes. Or pull a muscle or something. You don’t work out. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
She purses her lips, hesitating.
“Second, you’re coming to dinner. Everyone is expecting you, especially Pepper. There's too much testosterone at the table, and she needs another female there.”
She glances up at me. “People are starting to talk. About us. Dinner at Villa Frescos, the Inn, now at your Dad’s.”
I grip the counter, hovering my lips over hers. "Someone approach you?"
She rolls her eyes. "It's not me I'm worried about. I'm leaving. You still live here."
Tightening my jaw, I pull away from her. Both grateful for and cursing the reminder that this is temporary. "I wouldn't worry about it. Besides, I think we’ll silence a lot of people when you show up at the wedding with Landon Humphrey on your arm.”
Her eyes flash the way they do when I mention him, and I hate that I can't fucking place it.
“Come on. It’s family. You’ll be surrounded by all the people who care about you and would never judge you.” I lower her from the counter. "Then later I might help you get a good workout in.”
She looks up at me with a mischievous question. “In your gym?”
I wrap an arm around her and press my lips to the side of her face with a soft murmur. “No.”
“Levi, I hope you don’t mind I invited a few hockey buddies to poker next week.”
Levi shrugs. “It’s your bachelor party.”
“Wait,” Charlie starts. “Are they going to the dinner? I’ll need to change the reservation. How many are we talking?”
I’m relieved her first question wasn’t if Landon would be there.
“Riley, Chris and Landon. Oh, and Coach.”
Levi nods. “Reasonable. Charlie, you think you can squeeze them in?”
Charlie’s eyes are wide as she slides her bottom lip between her teeth. “Umm…gee I don’t know. I guess.”
I touch her arm. “Want me to call the restaurant?”
She swallows, her face turning red and I wonder what her issue is. Is she nervous about Landon and me being in the same room? Will it be awkward? Does she think she’ll need to sit with me instead of him since we’re…getting her ready for her big date?
“No. I’ll call them. So four more, you say?”
“Maybe ask for one long table instead of a round one?” Pepper suggests.
Charlie stands, grabbing her wine and phone with her. “On it.”
“Thank you,” Chase calls after her then looks at me. “Is it a really big deal?”
Apparently... “These places are a little uptight when it comes to reservations.”
Chase smirks. “I’m happy to see you two working so well together.”
“Me too.” Pepper grins, picking up her wine. “Is she driving you crazy with all this planning?”
“Not if you tune her out and just say okay,” I mutter with a wink.
Dad chuckles. “You might as well be married.”
Levi scoffs involuntarily then clears his throat. “Jackson, eat your meat.” He looks up and mouths a warning that looks like ' don’t get married' .
“Crisis averted,” Charlie says cheerily, stepping back into the dining room and taking her seat next to mine.
I can’t help my disappointment. I don’t want Landon anywhere near Charlie. Not next week, not at the wedding, and certainly not anything he has planned for her after the wedding.
“So they were able to fit in four more?”
“Nope. We’ll have two separate tables. Bride’s party will have the VIP table in the back and the Groom’s on the other side of the restaurant.
Pepper pouts. “Oh.”
“No big deal. We still have the party at the Inn after.” Aiden offers cheerily.
“Y'all need to stop being tied at the hip, you work together, live together and now you’re getting married. You can handle one meal solo,” Levi grumbles.
“Agree. You’re grossing us out.” I add.
“Sorry,” Charlie chimes in with her never-ending apologies. If I had the power to cut that word out of her vocabulary, I would have years ago.
Chase waves a hand. “It’s for the best. You girls don’t want to be around the guys when they’re drinking. They get a little out of control.”
Exactly how out of control does Landon get?
I turn to Charlie. “You alright with that?”
She nods. “Yep, it’s probably how it should be anyway.”
“Are you guys getting married?”
The question is directed at me and Charlie and it comes from the little person across the table.
“No, Jackson, we’re just friends.”
“But Grandpa just said you might as well be married because you tune her out and just say okay to everything.”
Charlie snorts and perks her brow at me.
“It was a joke. I listen to almost everything Charlie says.” I wink at her. Levi and Chase snicker in the background.
"Okay." She nods like a trooper, accepting being the joke at the table. “Okay, fine. So when I hand you a top hat and microphone and put you in the middle of the stage, you’ll know exactly what to do because you agreed to it.”
Everyone but my nephew laughs, not getting the humor.
“Wait, you’re joking, right?”
She ignores me and winks at the kid. “Thanks, Jackson.”
He shrugs. “I don’t know what I did but you're welcome. I think it’d be cool if you guys got married.”
“Jackson, I told you, we’re just friends,” I repeat.
“Uncle Chase and Pepper were friends.”
“Not really.” Levi scrunches his nose.
“But they were living together. And so are Uncle Noah and Charlie.”
“Who’s telling this kid these things?” I mutter under my breath, mainly aimed at my older brother across from me.
“My money’s on Tess,” he mutters back.
“Enough.” Dad cuts through the spiraling conversation. “Noah isn’t getting married.”
“Like ever?”
“Like…he hasn’t found the right girl yet, Jackson.” Dad offers softly, not wanting to shut down a curious kid.
“What’s wrong with Charlie? Or Tessa, I like her.” Jackson nods agreeably with his own suggestion. I bite down a comment to my nephew about trying to pimp me out when Charlie chimes in.
“There’s nothing wrong with us. People just have—”
“Issues they can’t get over,” Dad finishes sharply, glaring at me.
The table goes quiet, heads turning to the man at the head of the table.
“I wasn’t going to say that.” Charlie jumps in quickly. “I was going to tell Jackson that people have to feel a spark before they can get married. Chase and Pepper had that spark. Uncle Noah and I never did.” She sets her napkin down. “Excuse me.”
Standing gracefully, she steps through the kitchen and out the back door to the porch.
Heads turn to me. Particularly Dad and Levi, who both know Dad's comment wasn't about her. That it was never about her.
“I’ll go see if she’s okay.” Pepper offers.
I stand. “I’ll go. Mind if we skip dessert? I think we’re going to call it a night.”
Dad stands. “I’ll pack it up for you.”
I step out to the back porch, finding Charlie gazing out into the woods. “Can we talk?”
She nods but doesn’t turn back.
“That wasn’t about you.”
“Yes, it was.”
I take her hand and turn her. “No. It wasn’t.” My chest tightens and I release her, stepping to the fence and gripping it for support. I huff out a breath. “It was never about you, Charlie. It was about me. And him.”
“Who? Aiden?”
“Losing Mom when I was eighteen was...tragic and painful. Seeing what Dad went through in the years that followed was even more painful. Losing fights on purpose, drinking, disappearing. Hell, there were months I was the one raising Elliot because Dad wouldn’t come home. Levi was checked out in other ways—with a different girl every night. Until one of them got pregnant.”
“I’m so sorry. I never knew that.”
I turn back to her. God, I want to kiss that apologetic look right out of her. “One day when he returned, I called him out. Levi was there. Called him every name in the book and told him I’d never put anyone through what he put us through.”
When her eyes drift, I stop her thoughts mid-track because we can’t go there. “It's why I never dated before you or after you, Charlie. It’s why I’m in law instead of photography. There’s no passion for what I do. It’s facts, it’s steady, it’s real. For me, love was always an illusion, one that brings you down when reality hits. And hurts everyone around you.”
Liquid fills her eyes but she covers it with a laugh. "But you dated the crazy undergrad you found lost in Avery Hall?"
I smirk and brush a loose tear from her cheek. "What's a guy to do when the only girl he wanted admits she has feelings for you and was about to walk away…"
And hell, does it seem like deja vu right now.
“Charlie—"
She steps into my arms, burying her face in my chest like she's about to lose me. "Can we go back to not talking about the past now?"
I wrap my arms around her and hold on tight. "Yeah."